Former UConn Basketball Great Wes Bialosuknia, 68, Dies

Wes Bialosuknia, who played at UConn in the mid-1960s and holds the single-season scoring record for points per game, has died.

Bialosuknia, 68, was born in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., which led to his nickname, the "Poughkeepsie Popper."

At 6 feet 2, 185 pounds, he was known for his jump shot, playing before the days of the three-pointer.

"Folks who saw Wes in those days saw one of the great jump shooters," said Fred Shabel, who coached Bialosuknia at UConn. "He was just a dominant offensive player. Had we had the three-point line, he would have been even better. ... So many of his points were from the outside, from behind the three-point line. We always said he had the green light. We could come down on a fastbreak and were not upset if he threw the ball up. He had the green light."

Bialosuknia was highly recruited out of high school. Shabel remembers it coming down to Syracuse and UConn.

"He fell in love with the school," said Shabel, 81, vice chairman of Comcast Spectacor in Philadelphia, where he has worked for 33 years. "We formed a bond and the campus community fit his personality."

Bialosuknia averaged an all-time best 23.6 points over his three seasons. He averaged 28.0 in the 1966-67 season, the UConn record. He averaged 21.3 in '64-65, 21.25 in '65-66.

He reached 1,000 points in his career quicker than anyone in UConn history, 47 games. He had 30 or more points nine times in the 1966-67 season and that record stood until broken by Kemba Walker, who had 11 in the 2010-11 season. No one had more 30-point games in his UConn career than Bialosuknia (17).

The Huskies were 56-18 in Bialosuknia's three seasons. UConn was 23-3 in 1964-65, 16-8 in 1965-66, and 17-7 in the 1966-67 season. The Huskies won three Yankee Conference titles and made the NCAA Tournament twice.

Bialosuknia played on teams that included Tom Penders, whose college basketball coaching stops included Rhode Island, Texas and Houston; Bill Holowaty, who carved out a legendary career as the Eastern Connecticut baseball coach; and Toby Kimball, who played nine seasons in the NBA, including one with the team that drafted him, the Boston Celtics.

Shabel remembers the time UConn was playing at Southern Methodist in 1965 and Bialosuknia went out to center court with the captains to meet the officials. Apparently an SMU captain's mother had had an operation.

"He comes back and says, "I think we're in trouble tonight. The official asked the kid how his mother's doing.'" Shabel said.

UConn did lose the game, 80-68, but that did not happen much when Bialosuknia and Shabel were together.

Bialosuknia was a fourth-round draft pick of the St. Louis Hawks in the 1967 NBA draft but elected to play for the Oakland Oaks in the ABA. He ranked second (1967-68) in three-point field goal shooting percentage and his nine consecutive three-point field goals made ties him for the most in ABA history. He averaged 8.7 points in his one season, '67-68.

Bialosuknia was a member of the UConn All-Century Team selected in 2001 and is in the Huskies of Honor recognition program. He scored 1,673 points in his three seasons and was a three-time All-New England choice by the Associated Press and United Press International, and a three-time All-Yankee Conference pick.